The Baltimore County union. [volume] (Towsontown, Md.) 1865-1909, 1887-01-01
Correspondence Baltimore County Union.
SCIENTIFIC MISCELLANY.

THE COMING LIGHT
1t has been sanguinely predicted that within
five years the'mag nesium light VIII be as familiar
sight in many places as the electric light is to-
day. Only the high cost of magnesium has hith-
erto kept it from extensive use, and its price,
which was $40 pound few years ago, is said
to have been reduced to IS pound byia new
German process, with the prospect of still further
cheapening. A wire.of moderate size equals the
light of seventy-fve stearine candles, making the
cost at present but little more than that of gas,
quired for its use. The magnesium is simply
burned in lamps provided with clock-work move
ment to feed the ribbon of metal regularly. There
is no danger, as with electricity.
A TON OF COAL.
There is more in a heap of coal than athought-
less person may discover. Besides gas, ton of
gas-coaI will yield $500 pounds of coke, 20 gal
Ions of ammonia water, and lao pounds of coal
tar Destructive distillaton of the coal tar gives
69.6 pounds of pitch, II pounds of creosote, IA
pounds of heavy oils, 9.5 pounds of naphtha yell
low, so pounds of naphthaline, AIS pounds of
naphthol, 2.25 pounds of alazarin, "a pounds of
solvent naphtha, LIS pounds of phenol IL pounds
of aurine, IL pounds of aniline, OF of pound
of toluidne, 0.4O of pound of anthracine, 90 of
a pound of toluene. From the last-named SUBJ
stance is obtained the new product known, as
saccharine which is $50 times as sweet as the best
cane-sugar.
EARTHQUAKE MAPS.
A catalogue of all the earthquakes ever recorded
in the British Isles was some time ago compiled
BY Prof. J. P. 0'Reilly, of Dublin, to serve as
basis for an earthquake map Of thecountry. The
author has now extended his work so as to include
the whole of Europe. Such maps will prove of
great interest," although the deficiencies in records
mpst make them very incomplete and imperfect. In
this connection it is remarked that earthquakes
may be broadly distributed, according to their
kind, into two systems, now coaleseing, now in
dependent of each other. The explosive species
follow volcanoes along coasts, the mechanical
sort are associated with mountain ranges; all
attend lines of weakness, and are more or less
closely connected with the shrinkage by cooling
of the terrestrial crust. Thus, every volcanic
region is liable to earthquakes; though there are
earth-shaken districts which are not volcanic.
NOVEL RAILWAY.
A curious railway, which furnishes its own
motive power, carries iron ore from the Ria Mines,
in the Pyrenees, to distance of nearly seven
miles. 1t is built the Lartigne single rail sys
tenn, and is worked by electrical machinery de-
signed by Messrs. Siemens, the loaded train run
GOWN
ficently powerful to haul up the empty train
Details of the working system are said to consist
in using the motor in descending as a dynamo,
which generates current enough to work the motor
on the ascending train the difference between the
weights of the two trains being sufficient to COM
pensate for the loss of electrical efficiency.
VOLCANO DYNAMICS.
In recently published account of an inquiry
into the origin and character of the terrible vol
canic ohtburst in the Straits of Sunda two years
ago. it is calculated that the matter elected was
equal to at least ten cubic miles, and that the
velocity with which this matter was thrown into
the air exceeded the projecting power of the larg
est guns. The elected matter must have reached
q height of thirty miles, or about six times the
the height of the Hottest mountain in the world.
The explosions were heard over a fourteenth part
of the earths surface; and an atmospheric wave
travelled from the of disturbance, and spread
over the surface of the globe in thirty-six hours.
MISCELLANEOUS. -
An accurate map of the United States is in
preparation by Major Powell, and will be finished
in about year. The coast-line has long been
quite perfectly charted, but the inaccuracy of in
ternal surveys has caused the placing of some To-
caities fully five miles out of the way on the best
of existing maps.
Russian physician was lately consulted by
woman on account of peculiar deformity, con-
sisting of an extension of the spine which formed
u
two vertebrate.
According to Prof. j. Norman Lockyer, the
English astronomer, the total number of stars OF
which some knowledge can be gained with the
optical aid now available is from 4O,OOO,OOO to
100000. Only about 5000 are visible to the
naked eye-3,000in the northern hemisphere, and
5000 in the southern.
Some experiments by Mr.. E. L. Nichols have
shown that magnetism may considerably influence
chemical action the effects of acids on iron filings
in the field of powerful magnet differing in sew
eral respects from those under ordinary conditions
A study Of baby growth has shown that an infant
loses from three to six ounces in weight during
the first four to six days after birth, which should
he regained by the seventh day. From this time
to the fifth month it ought to gain about Eve
per week, and after the fifth month about three
ounces per week. In five months its birth weight
ought to have doubled, and quadrupled in sixteen
months
In fifty eight cases observed since 1881 the in
cubation period of hydrophobia, or the interval
elapsing between the bite and the appearance of
the disease, has bean found by DR.. Jardin- Beau
metz to average between three and four months.
In one remarkable and well-authenticated excep-
ton to this rule nineteen months elapsed, but re-
ports of cases occurring several years after bite
are to be received with suspicion.
More than 500 pounds off'wood-wooi"-tha
is, wood cut into very fine shavings-may be
made daily by single machine, requiring no ex-
pense for skilled labor. The product was origi-
nally intended as packing material, but is gain
ing favor as stuffing for mattresses, bedding for
cattle, filters for liquids, etc. 1t is elastic like
horse-hair, and is beautifully clean in use. The
wood preferred is Riga firm France at least.
By actual experiment, the Government Analyst
of New Zealand has proven that the dust from
the recent volcanic eruptons is of great value as
q fertilizer.